


The Rose and the Briar

by TheDameintheRaininMaine



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Princess Tutu
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ballet, Ballet, F/F, Feelings, Unresolved Emotional Tension, aka magical fairy tale ballet metanarrative au, magical girl transformations, maleficent is a hack writer, mentions of eating disorders and depression, princess tutu au, unresolved conflicts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-18
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-17 21:10:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2323295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDameintheRaininMaine/pseuds/TheDameintheRaininMaine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Princess Tutu AU</p><p>Once upon a time there was a woman who died. But before she did, this woman crafted a story, a story that would ensure her influence even after death. </p><p>In another world, Rose Morning is a dancer who feels like she's sleepwalking through life. But an audition, new friends, and a strange encounter with a young girl leads to events that will forever alter the fates of every citizen of Storybrooke Town</p><p>May those who follow their fate be granted happiness; may those who defy it be granted glory (Princess Tutu arc words)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The sleep of living death

Once upon a time, there was a woman who died. 

This woman had been a magical creature in life, a fairy to be specific. But she was no creature of whimsy or wonder, but one of fire and fury. Her life was forged in hatred and cruelty, and it was these that she turned out onto her victims. Her casting staff was feared across the realms. She could turn a heart black, an angel wretched, even render the most beautiful flower naught but thorns. 

But this woman also knew the power of the written word. And it was in these that before her death, she conscripted a story. One which would afford her everlasting life. 

***

_Because she was unable to undo the wicked wish, but only to soften it, she said, "It shall not be her death. The princess will only fall into a hundred-year deep sleep."_

***

"Yes Mother, I'll stop to see you later this week...class went fine...I'm eating again, I promise...tell Father I love him too...goodbye".

Rose Morning hung up the pay phone, and lifted her dance bag over her shoulder and left the studio. 

It was partly true, what she had told her mother. The first class at Storybrooke Town's ballet school had gone well. The teacher had praised Rose's control, and offered her the opportunity to audition for the studio's Christmas production of Sleeping Beauty, which she had commented, that in such a small company could always use some fresh blood. 

She walked out into the cool fall air. Cool, almost cold. No snow in sight yet. Storybrooke Town was a town built for winter and the buildings and streets seemed almost naked without even a dusting of it.

Rose has been so happy to dance again. It had been too long. But even as she put on her faded pink leotard and tied back her copper colored hair, it hadn't been the same. Her muscles had resisted the stretches, the movements now feeling foreign. After just the single lesson, her feet had ached.

Even the thing she had loved the most from before had made her seem bloodless, pale and weak. "Good control", a synonym for precise, technically perfect, but not beautiful. 

Even while just walking, Rose winced. Her shoulders still ached. She was out of shape. 

The wind begins to blow when Rose reaches her street, and she wraps her long gray coat tighter around herself. 

She reached the front door of the tiny apartment that her parents had paid for when her and her therapist had both agreed it would be best at this point in her recovery. 

The audition next week scared her. It had been at the audition for the Nutcracker last year in Bangor that she had passed out, and the hospitals and tests and referrals had started. One moment, she had been under the light, on full pointe, certain and giddy that she would make it as the Ballerina Doll, maybe even the Sugar Plum Fairy, the next, she woke up in a hospital bed, cold and gray surrounded by cold gray walls, with tubes coming from her arm and the standard beeping the only noise. 

Her therapist had been standardly helpful. It had surprised Rose when she had told her that "disordered eating habits" as she called them, were not uncommon among dancers, but that it was Rose's reports of sadness and ambiguous reactions to therapy that concerned her most. 

The drugs had helped some, the therapy some too, but Rose's life didn't really seem that different. She felt like she was an observer, on the outside of her own life, sleepwalking through the motions. She never let on, not to Dr K, not to anyone, how much coming had made her feel like a failure. 

She had told Dr K, that she only felt alive, truly alive while dancing. But she had cautioned that the environment of dance might well encourage some of the more self destructive symptoms she had displayed, and suggested that she take a year off to relax and reflect. 

Relax and reflect. More like lie around, mope and take up space.

And so here she was, back in the town where she had grown up, living not with her parents in their beautiful, comfortable house, but in a tiny studio apartment with just a refrigerator, a microwave, a table and a futon to her name. 

It was true that she had found her family's home a little suffocating, but that wasn't to say that she still didn't feel a little alone. 

And it was here, alone, that Rose opened the fridge, pulled out the carefully measured and prepared dish of rice and black beans that would be her dinner. She heated them up, and ate at the table in silence. 

After her meal, Rose takes her meds and debates going straight to bed. It was what she did most nights. But auditions were a week away, and it would not do to audition with herself as out of shape as she had been today. 

The week she had moved into this place, she had gone down to the store and bought a cheap towel rack. She then proceeded to ensure she was never going to get her security deposit back by screwing it into the living room wall at exactly the right height. 

The short piece of metal screwed into her apartment wall is a far cry from the smooth, polished wood and floor to ceiling mirrors of a proper practice studio. But it would do. 

And for the night, Rose runs through her stretches and the opening positions, one at a time. 

It would have to do.

****

"Is this seat taken?"

Rose looks up from her spot in the auditorium. The speaker is a tall woman with long black hair wearing jeans and a dark green jacket. Her skin is the color of coffee with milk and her face is somehow both angular and soft at once. She isn't smiling, and it doesn't seem likely she smiles much at all.

"Or are you waiting for someone?" she continues, gesturing at Rose's bag in the aforementioned seat. 

"No, no, I'm sorry, go ahead" Rose blushes and sputters, realizing that she'd been staring, and picks up her bag and sets it on the ground. 

The auditorium at the school is small, but actually quite nice. The high school performed all of their plays here, and the community theater staged their spring and fall productions too. The seats were a deep plush red, and the curtain was velvet to match. 

The woman speaks again "So do you have a friend or a...kid auditioning?"

"No, I'm auditioning, but later on, we're in groups. They're doing Aurora and the Prince now because they're the big roles and have to test in pairs too. They're what everyone wants to see."

She's met with silence, so she follows up with "I'm sorry, you're probably not interested in my babbling about dance. Are you here to watch someone?"

"It's fine" the woman says, smiling now. She extends her hand "I'm Leah Fa, and an old friend invited me to watch him audition". 

"It's nice to meet you Leah, I'm Rose". she takes her hand and shakes it. Leah's hand is warm, if rough. Warm and vital and alive. 

The two sit in companionable silence before Rose asks again, 

"Are you from Storybrooke Town? I don't think I've seen you before"

Leah winces and Rose wonders if she should have left well enough alone. 

"I was born here and my parents lived here before they died, but I spent the last eight years in the military. I just got out and came back. Wait, that's him, on stage now". 

Rose notes that sudden change in topic, but chooses not to push. And the thought soon leaves her mind when the man Leah gestures at comes on stage. 

He is not especially tall, well built, with short red-brown curls stuck close to his scalp. He is wearing a simple black shirt and tights, and the lines of his body stretch longer than it seemed possible. He's beautiful.

And this is before he begins to dance. 

There is a difficult line, Rose understands, that male ballet dancers have to walk. Most of the archetypal beauty of ballet is associated with the feminine. But male dancers must be able to access that beauty too, but maintain the strength and power necessary for the traditionally defined male roles present in most productions. 

This man, has it all tied up in a bow made of grace. 

Rose is still entranced by the time he finishes and the next dancer has taken the stage. She tries to hide the color in her cheeks by asking Leah, 

"So what's his name?"

"Edwin Prince" 

Rose makes a face "Edwin?"

"We always called him Eddie. And Prince too? He'll probably get a big head if he does get the role. He played sports in school and the other guys always made a million jokes about it."

"He get the role. After seeing him dance, I'd be shocked if he didn't". 

And it's the truth. Filling male roles is hard enough in a small company. They see dancers like him, very rarely. 

The Aurora auditions come next. This is a big role, a dream one for a young ballerina, both the central role in the story, and a very challenging role technically. All the women who come across the stage are beautiful, strong, graceful and charming. The are all what Rose thought she was so close to being just a year ago. 

"What's after this group?" Leah asks out of the blue. Rose had been surprised at how much attention the other woman had been paying the auditions. 

"The children's auditions. Lots of parents come to see these, so they give them the middle spot. Gives the staff time to mull over the leads more, and makes it easier for the parents to leave after and not sit for another hour and a half". 

"I never made it to one of these" Leah speaks, almost as an afterthought.

"You danced?" Rose is definitely surprised now. In her green army jacket, jeans and heavy boots, Leah didn't exactly seem the type to have a big interest in classical art. 

"Eddie and I tried a lot of the same things when we were in school together. And...he was far better at fencing than I was at dancing". 

"It's not for everyone", Rose muses, watching the tiny dancers on stage, auditioning in small groups. 

The best child dancers will be the chorus fairies, Temperance and Joy and Patience and the like. The rest will be fairy tale characters to fill out the big wedding scene at the end. 

Rose knows that very few of the little ones will still be dancing in ten years. Ballet is taxing, on the body, the time, the wallet and the mind. There will be fewer and fewer every passing year. Most of the girls will be out by adolescence, and the boys well before that. 

But for now, they all look giddy in their special audition costumes, and this is all fun for them. 

"I have to go backstage and prepare now, it was nice meeting you Leah"

"I'll stay, I'd like to see you dance". 

That takes Rose aback for a minute, and she leave the seating area with a flush on her chest. 

The dressing area is small, and crowded with the other dancers, a few women Rose's age, and the young teenage girls who have passed through to the advanced classes. She finds a corner to squeeze herself into and change. 

The old short sleeved black leotard and new pink tights are as comforting as an old sweater. Her favorite purple leg warmers are too big now, but she wouldn't be able to wear them on stage anyway. 

Her shoes are the big disappointment. Discussion with both the teacher and her family physician had confirmed what she feared; it was no longer safe for her to dance en pointe until she regained her full strength and fitness. And while the demi pointe shoes still look very much like the pink satin real things, they still feel to Rose like a lying facade. 

She's barely had time to pin up her hair and stretch when one of the assistants comes in and ushers them into line to go on stage. 

The stage. Up here, on the hard wood under the bright light, this is where Rose feels she belongs. Even though the audition music is prerecorded, and the audience by this time is mostly empty, Rose feels alive, her heart pumping and her limbs moving lightly and freely. She can make Leah's face out, clearly, even through the stage lighting, and the woman's face invigorates her. 

On that stage, Rose is for a moment, the creature she wants to be. 

Even when she finishes and leaves, and the sweat begins to dry on her skin, joining the new aches and burns in her muscles, she's smiling and aglow. 

After she's changed and ready to leave, she's met at the door by Leah and Eddie. The dancer is just as dazzling in person, with an easy smile and a gentle voice. 

Gentle, and enthralling, she's really quite lucky she can hear what he says when he leads off with, 

"Wow! You were great, are you new to the school? I can't believe I never seen you dance before?"

She doesn't respond by anything other than smiling, and is relieved when Leah gives her a question she can actually formulate a verbal response to,

"Do you want to come have dinner with us? To celebrate?"

And Rose sputters for a moment, before smiling, and saying yes. Her stomach is still bubbling and full of joy. 

They go to Granny's Diner, everyone in the whole town goes to Granny's Diner. 

Eddie and Leah do most of the talking. It's clear that they've known each for so long, that they can just pick up on each others cues, and they each are a part of so many of their stories. Rose is almost jealous. She's never had anything like that.

The three of them have ordered when Eddie asks the question Rose has been dreading since she realized they both saw her dance. 

"Why didn't you audition for Aurora? You've clearly got the chops for a principle role". 

She winces, and tries to send a pleading look to Leah for an exit, but momentarily gives in. 

"I was in training when I was..injured last year. I had to take the year off, and I've just gotten back into classes. Didn't you see on stage? I can't even dance pointe yet, and Aurora is such a difficult role...there was no way I would have been able to pull it off, I would have just gotten worse..."

Rose knows she's babbling, but Leah seems to sense her nervousness and changes the subject. 

The others have finished their food and are preparing to leave while Rose is still nibbling slowly at her chicken sandwich. 

"Sure you don't want a lift home?" Eddie asks, glancing her way. 

"No, I'm fine, the walk is good for my head" Rose replies softly. 

And so the other two leave her sitting at the booth alone. 

This whole day feels unreal. 

The unrealest part comes when her quiet reverie is interrupted by a voice. 

"Can I sit here?" 

Rose looks over her shoulder to see a girl, maybe thirteen, with long blond hair and big glasses. She's wearing jeans and a plaid shirt, has a backpack on and is carrying a skateboard under one arm and a mug of hot chocolate in the other.

She also doesn't wait for Rose's response before plopping down on the seat opposite her. 

"Can I have some of your fries?"

"Uhh...sure" Rose replies confused, pushing the plate in the girl's direction. 

She munches on a group, before saying, mouth still full, 

"So you've made it through the prologue. Tragic backstory's good but secondary cast could use some definition."

"Who are you?" Rose blurts, becoming more annoyed by the girl every moment. 

The blond rolls her eyes, "I'm an precocious, oracular urchin here to provide comic relief and exposition, duh, you're not that genre savvy are you?". 

She plucks a book of her backpack and slides it across the table. "You'll be needing this". 

The leather bound volume has an illustration of a young maiden asleep among a mass of thorny vines and is titled "Briar Rose". 

"What on earth is this", Rose demands, touching the cover gingerly. 

"It's the Narrative" the girl replies, with the same 'get with the program' expression. "The original Narrative anyway. It's okay, you can talk freely to me. I'm just an consequence of the Narrative, I'm not truly a part of it. Some of the children are a part. It's basically me, Alexandra. Maybe that weird boy down at the library. I don't know what his deal is. The others. They're all trapped, and their stories will never reach any conclusion."

She stands up, wipes her hands on her shirt and grabs her skateboard. 

"My name's Emma," she says offhand, "Thanks for the fries. Go outside tonight. The moon is supposed to be amazing. You can see it perfect from the library roof."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rose calls after her. 

"It's called foreshadowing! It means you should reeeally go there tonight! And now that you've heard me say it, hopefully it will be a self fulfilling prophecy too!" Emma calls back from the diner's door. 

Rose slumps back against the leather booth. 

Even as she walks back to her apartment, she has only one thought. 

What the hell just happened?

And yet, that night after she changes into her pajamas, she can't sleep. She lies on her futon, stiff as a board and cannot get a wink. 

And so, with no idea of why, she gets up, puts on her shoes, and walks downtown. 

The streets are completely empty even though it's only eleven PM. The clouds are drifting in the sky, so only a few stars are visible. 

"So much for the amazing moon". 

When she reaches the library, she stares for a moment and says "how am I supposed to get on the roof", when she hears, 

"There's a ladder around the side"

Rose whirls around to find a boy with longish brown hair and shabby clothes standing behind her. 

"If you want to go up to the roof, there's a ladder around by the trash cans"

"Was I talking out loud..."

"Probably not. Me being here might just be a small deus ex machina" is all he says before scurrying off again. 

And when Rose walks around by the trashcans, there is indeed a ladder. 

"I can't believe I'm doing this" she whines as she climbs. The rungs are cold and rusty, and once her foot slips and she almost feels her heart jump out of her chest, but she keeps going. 

Once she gets to the top, she realizes that on the mostly sloping roof, there is a flat platform easy enough to sit on. 

And as soon as she does, the moon peaks out from behind the clouds for the first time that night. 

It is indeed beautiful, but it's just a moon. 

And as soon as Rose is feeling annoyed with herself for listening to Emma's nonsense, that is the moment when she starts to feel the change. 

She stands up abruptly, and feels like she should have lost her balance, but she doesn't. 

She is awash in a bright light, and a feeling of intense power overwhelms her. 

When this passes, and she looks down, she is taken aback. 

Instead of her flowered pajamas and boots, she is wearing a thin, bejeweled lavender colored dress. The skirt is tulle and flares out around her knees over sheer white stockings. But is when she sees her feet, clad in pristine satin pointe shoes that she recognizes the ensemble. It is Princess Aurora's costume from the ballet. 

Her costume if it were 100% new and custom made to fit her. 

She touches her hair, gone from a roughly brushed ponytail to perfect curls that cascade down her back. And the tiara...

The tiara is no theater prop. It's real. 

Rose takes a single step, and it is when she raises herself onto one foot in perfect pointe, and stretches her other back into a jaw dropping arabesque with almost no effort at all that her memory comes to her and she understands. 

She is not just inexplicably dressed as Princess Aurora. She IS Princess Aurora. 

******

And here we are, our heroine knows her purpose now. A sad and lonely girl, now a beautiful and noble princess. But what to come, when she realizes that she will never be able to find her prince.


	2. Chapter 2

The spindle sits before Aurora, beckoning to her. 

Maleficent's voice echoes in her head, though she knows she cannot be near.

Do it. You know what will happen if you don't. 

***

Aurora barely remains on the roof a minute before she hears a noise from inside. 

When she makes her way inside, she starts to think.

She is the Princess Aurora, she is the daughter of King Stefan, betrothed to Prince Philip. She was cursed by Maleficent as an infant. 

She knows she is in another world, but she doesn't know how she came to be. But whatever this strange noise is, she knows she must go to it. 

In the front room of the library, a woman with dark hair and a blue dress is sitting at her desk. She has a lit candle, an old fashioned clock and a pot of tea on the desk in front of her. The rest of her desk, and the floor, are covered with stack after stack of books, the shelves behind her notwithstanding.

When she steps closer, the sound becomes clear. It's whispering. 

"You haven't left the library in forever". 

"You have to go outside sometime". 

"We'll be fine alone for a while, you can go have fun". 

The woman responds, but Aurora can't see who she's even talking to. 

"Why would I ever leave? All I need in life are my books". 

She starts, then stands, hearing Aurora. When she stands, and lifts her head, Aurora immediately recognizes the woman known as Belle, the legendary intelligent beauty, housekeeper to the terrifying Dark One. 

"Why are you here?"

Almost by instinct, Aurora reaches out hand in front of her and says "dance with me". 

The part of Aurora that is still Rose doesn't understand what's happening, but Belle takes her hand, and is surprisingly light on her brown loafer shod feet. 

As they twirl softly amongst the stacks, the words flow with ease. 

"I knew the story, that you were the housemaid of the Dark One, and he cast you out?"

"I worked for him for a long time, and I saw that the creature that terrorized our land was just an armor, that underneath there was a human man. A good man."

She ducks her head again, even though Aurora is less than a foot from her, and can see every detail of the red in her cheeks and the wetness forming in her eyes. 

"I fell in love with the man he was underneath. I let myself believe that if I loved him maybe he would be able to be that man again. But when I tried to tell him, he cast me out. I was so angry, so ashamed when I left. I didn't know where to go, what to do. I had so believed it would work."

"Is that why you don't leave the library now? Because he rejected you before and you're scared to be hurt like that again?"

Belle nods silently. 

Her teacup, a small china thing with a chip in one side, begins to float alongside them. 

"Master was never the same after you left. He was never lighthearted or forgiving again. Whatever you think, being around you did change him even if he wasn't suddenly perfect". 

Aurora twirls Belle, lifting her lightly, far more easily than she should be able to. The two are moving as one. 

"How will you know what will happen if you don't try? Wherever The Dark One is now, you'll never be able to find him within these walls. Whether he truly is a changed man and welcomes you back, or has been hardened enough to reject you again, you won't know for sure until you find and talk to him."

The tears are falling from Belle's eyes freely now. 

"But what will I do if he does reject me again. The first time was so humiliating, I don't know if I could survive it happening again".

Aurora slips behind Belle, gently fits her hands to her waist, and lifts her effortlessly. 

"Which is worse? The pain of being rejected, or the pain of living without answer? Even if he does reject you, at least you will know that it's likely hopeless, and can move on with your life. Look around you,"

Aurora spins the two of them, letting Belle see the floor to ceiling shelves of books and furnishings. 

"This is all you. You maintain this place, for people to come. You have friends, other people in your life". 

The cup chirps in again, joined by the candelabra and tea pot. All three have begun to hover and circle them, "That's us!"

"Your life is your life, with or without him"

A beautiful golden light engulfs the room. When it fades, the two of them are standing normally again, and the cup and pot and candles have returned to Belle's desk.

Aurora's feet have begun to feel the strain, so she returns flat to the ground. Sweat is gathering on her skin and her breathe is catching in her chest. 

"Thank you" 

Aurora smiles shyly. Rose is already starting to creep back in, along with the sunlight creeping through the window. 

"You're Aurora" Belle says "What do they call you outside?"

She shivers "Rose. I'm Rose Morning here."

"I was Lacey Belacroix. I remember that I used to party a lot. I don't remember what I thought, but it always seemed like I was running from something. Then one day, I just finished up work and didn't leave."

"Do you think you will? Leave the library now?"

Belle curtsies "Well if I didn't, the dance would be for nothing wouldn't it? But right now I need to get everything set up for when my employees come in to work so we can open". 

She takes Rose by the elbow, and leads her out the front door. 

"Something tells me I'll be seeing you again soon Aurora". 

"It's Rose" Rose says, to the closed door. 

Belle chuckles from the other side. 

"The dear girl hasn't realized it's both yet. She could use a dance herself it seems, when the time is right".

Rose looks out across the street. It's barely six am, and she's in her pajamas again. She shivers as she watches Storybrooke Town's early rising residents as they go about their business none the wiser to what just occurred. 

Rose doesn't go the diner that day.

She refuses to think about Emma, or Belle, or what happened in the library at all. 

She goes home, has a breakfast of fruit and yogurt. She goes for a run. Picks up a paper and browses the classifieds, maybe someone's looking for a clerk, she could use the extra money. Goes to the park. Avoids calling her mother. 

It's a cool day, and soon winter will be upon them. There's Thanksgiving displays in the store windows, and autumn-dyed leaves in everyone's yards. 

All perfectly normal. 

Around noon, she gets a call from the ballet school. They've already made the casting decisions for the show. 

Rose walks to the studio, nervous, and not really sure what to expect. Getting a good role would be a dream. Not a big part, but a good one. Sleeping Beauty is full of them. A chance to be back on stage, like last year never even happened.

But what would it mean for her? She'd worked so hard to hold onto the semblance of normal and healthy would a return to the world of dance just make it worse? Would the feelings of helplessness and sadness make their way back into her mind?

(And was she really, truly, normal or had she just found better pretending?)

Maybe it would be better to get a bit part. Someone with no solo work, who was part of a group. Less pressure, less chance for failure. 

She's the only one waiting outside Master Leo's office when he posts the list. 

She looks at the list three times, before turning and chasing after him. 

"Master Leo, there must be some mistake".

He turns to her. Leo is a tall man, wiry and thin with smooth dark skin and a characteristic feline grace. He is imposing, but not intimidating. 

"Do you have something to ask Rose?"

She slows, trying to wrap her tongue.

"I have been out of training for a year, you can't possibly..."

"The Lilac Fairy is an excellent role, a very important one. I thought you would be pleased."

Part of her is. Part of her is terrified. And it is an important role. The Lilac Fairy, who's magic spares Aurora her death, and who's conflict with the evil fairy Carbosse is what actually drives the story. Depending on the production, many dancers would actually prefer dance it than the actual lead. 

But still. 

"Are you sure I can do it?"

He reaches out to touch her shoulder. 

"Rose, I can't speak to what you've been through this past year. All I can go on is what I saw on stage last night. If you can keep up that passion, you can dance this role and will be on you're way to plenty of greatness". 

He squeezes her arm softly. 

"Just make sure to take care of yourself first". 

When he leaves again, Rose goes back to the list. 

Aurora is a girl named Ana whom Rose doesn't recall. Carbosse is an older girl named Eva. 

Her heart tugs in her chest, when she realizes that Ed did make Philip. Of course he would. 

"Chomping at the bit to find out are you?"

Rose spins around, seeing Leah behind her. She tries not to yelp. 

"Sorry, you startled me." Rose scrunches up her face. "It's my first show in a while, I really wanted to know as soon as I could." she tries to change the subject "Why are you here?". 

Leah rolls her eyes. "Eddie's really superstitious about things sometimes. He's convinced that if he finds out before everyone else he'll choke on stage."

Rose snorts. Performance does breed some weird ideas sometimes. "You came to find out for him?"

"Yeah. I'm actually about to drive out to where we both work to tell him, you want to come and watch his head explode like he's actually surprised?"

And with warmth blooming in her chest, Rose agrees almost without reservation. 

Leah drives an old truck with seats so soft Rose starts to sink into them. As they head to the outskirts of town, they chat. 

"Where do you two work, I never asked."

"The stables, my parents owned them before they died. Now they're mine. Eddie and I used to spend a lot of time out here as kids, and when I got home and had to replace some of the staff, he jumped at the chance."

She looks wistful, Rose notes. For her parents maybe?

It's a little place, set near the woods a few miles away from the last bunch of houses. Rose has never been out this way before. 

"Have you ever ridden a horse before?" Leah asks.

"Only on a carousel" Rose admits, a little red faced. 

"We can change that today if you don't have anywhere you need to be". 

Rose doesn't let her face betray her. 

The stables are small, maybe two dozen animals in a structure, that while spacious, is clearly showing age. The only other people around are a hand mucking out a stall, and a dog sniffs around the outside wall. 

"We don't do much business any more. It was better when I was a child, there were still a lot of wealthier people in the area who needed somewhere to board. But most of them have moved to bigger areas. What income we have now are from a few lessons, some special needs groups and a kids camp during the summer. Aside from Eddie I can only afford one other stable hand and he only works part time, the rest of the work is split between me and whatever volunteers we can gather up."

"Do you ever think about..."

"Selling? No, never. My parents poured all their work into this place, trying to make it. I won't betray their legacy". 

They find Eddie riding along the side of the field, atop of a beautiful chestnut stallion. The horse and rider move together, as thought meant to be that way. His riding is as beautiful as his dancing. 

And his reaction to the news is exactly what Leah said it would be like. For a man who seems so poised, he reacts to excitment like a child. 

It's the same way he reacts when Leah says, "We have a new rider here". 

Rose's face turns this time "oh, no I couldn't..."

But Leah eases her onto a soft gray mare who moves slowly underneath her, and soon the two of them are clumsily following Eddie's expert lead. 

Soon enough, the horse (Leah had called her Posey) began to feel like a part of Rose. Like their movements fit together and she was part of the motion instead of merely being dragged along. It wasn't something she could imagine doing forever, but it was feeling less and less foreign.

She gazes at Eddie in front of them, wondering if she could ever look as at ease as he does on his steed doing anything. Riding, dancing, she would take anything at this point. Anything to not feel like an alien in her own body. 

Before Rose knows it, hours have passed, and Leah is gently taking her hand and pulling her off Posey and offering to drive her home. 

"Just drop me at the diner, I don't have anything to make for dinner" Rose replies. 

Before she gets out of Leah's truck, she insists on giving her both her and Eddie's cell numbers. 

"You'll be around the ballet school a lot, but maybe we could do this again". 

She looks hopeful, and Rose is beginning to wonder if Leah is lonely too, if she has any friends besides Eddie. She wonders if she spends all day out at the stables, with no one but the horses. 

Rose walks into the diner. She hasn't felt like this in...maybe ever. Her gut isn't swirly, her head isn't racing. She feels almost...happy. 

She orders a chicken Caeser salad, and before she knows it, she's eaten half of it. She isn't queasy, she doesn't feel weighed down. Her brain isn't telling her that she'll regret it. 

"Did it work?"

Rose is jolted upwards from her thoughts by Emma sitting across from her. Her skateboard is nowhere in sight, and she's wearing a print dress instead of yesterday's jeans. Rose squints and realizes the print is a series of white on black skulls. 

"Don't your parents wonder where you are?"

She waves at the dark haired waitress behind the counter, who brings her over a plate of spaghetti. 

"Mom's teaching night classes, and dad's working late. So Ruby keeps and eye on me and makes me dinner some nights". 

The waitress rolls her eyes. "That's because they remember the last time they left you alone at night". 

Emma hides her face briefly before taking a bite of her spaghetti. 

"Accidentally break ONE window and suddenly you're a hardened criminal". 

After a few more bites, she asks again, "So did it work? I thought for sure the library roof would be the key, the moonlight should be enough from now on". 

"I don't know what you're talking about". 

Emma cocks her eyebrow, and then rolls her eyes. 

"You're acting like you don't want to remember who you are. That you don't want everyone here to remember"

What happened last night- this morning really rushes back to Rose. She had helped. At least one person. What had Belle been doing since this morning? No one else in town seemed to be acting any different. She had seemed so grateful too, and it had felt so wonderful. 

Rose takes a deep breath. "OK, spill. What's going on here." 

Emma actually bounces a little. "I thought that would be harder!". 

She scarfs the last of her spaghetti, and gets up. 

"Meet me outside the library tonight, before it gets totally dark. And keep this with you". 

She removes a large, leather bound book from her bag and slides it across the table. 

Rose barely has time to open it before Emma's gone again. 

"Fairytales?" She wonders to herself. 

Later that night comes quickly. Rose dons her jacket and boots again and meets Emma where she went the night before. 

The other girl has thrown on leggings and a jacket and doesn't seem to be at all perturbed by being out so late alone. 

"How did you get to the roof last night?"

Rose gestures, "There's a ladder around the back, this weird kid showed me then disappeared". 

"Dark straggly hair, dressed like an old time hobo?"

Rose is taken aback, "I guess?"

"I've seen him before. Don't know who he is. Drives me crazy, I know everyone in this town like the back of my hand, but I don't know him. And that doesn't make sense."

Rose rolls her eyes. 

Emma pokes the bottom rung of the ladder, which Rose notices is quite rusted. 

"...Let's just stay down here. Once the sun sets it should be fine". 

And so they stand awkwardly outside the library windows. As the sun crests on the horizon, Rose whistles to herself, and then finally asks. 

"Why are both of your parents working so late?"

"Mom's a teacher and dad works at the animal shelter. Dad was really sick for a while back, so we have a lot of medical bills still. Mom teaches night classes and dad works at the stable out of town in afternoons so they can try to make ends meet". 

There's a thoughtfulness to her statement that Rose hadn't expected out of her. 

"The stables- the Fa family stables?"

"Oh right, you were there earlier wtih Philip and Mulan". 

"How did you-"

"Contrived coincidence. Also known as my dad drove past there taking me home from school". 

"Philip and Mulan, you mean Ed and Leah?"

"Aurora's betrothed and his best friend. Your truest companions. They would do anything for you. Wouldn't you for them too?"

Rose's stomach jerks. She remembers the amazement in her heart watching Ed, how comfortable she had felt with Leah. How easy it had been being with both of them. 

But a fiancé? Even friends had seemed out of the realm of possibility for her for so long. 

Suddenly the library door shuts beside them and Rose jumps out of her skin. 

"Good to see you Aurora", Belle says as she passes them with her bag over her shoulder, "Can't stay tonight but I wish you luck". 

With an unexpected burst of confidence, she responds "Did you do the thing we talked about?"

Belle laughs, "It's been one day, give me some time to prepare". 

She then points at Emma, "And you should be getting home", and then leaves. 

Emma looks at Rose, "I'll leave once you change, I just want to see". 

And as the sky darkens to dusky purple, suddenly her words don't seem ridiculous. 

When the sun finally disappears, Rose lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. 

"What now?"

Emma shrugs, "I don't know? Twirl or something". 

Rose takes a deep breath, and shuts her eyes. She pretends she's in class, trying to make her movements as crisp and harmonious. She flexes her feet, and drags the tip of one up her leg, raising her arms into fifth position, and stretches for a pirouette. 

And just like that, it happens. The stiff wind and surge of power. It feels like there ought be music playing. 

And then she's Aurora again. 

Emma whistles behind her, "OK, that was as cool as I had hoped, I'll be going home now."

She heads off toward some of the houses, waving. "Don't waste the night standing around Aurora, use it"

Her chest seizes up. Aurora has plenty of confidence, but the memories of what had happened this day nearly brought her to her knees. 

Mulan, and Philip, it felt like years since she had seen them. How long had it even been? They had done so much for her, now they were suffering again. 

She had to help them, had to. 

She rose, and was moving through the town streets like she was floating on air. She didn't even realize she had risen on to a rooftop and was nearly gliding along under the moonlight. 

Aurora thought she ought be frightened, but she wasn't. 

Philip is outside the ballet school, carrying his bag. He must have been assisting with closing up, because only children's classes were running until the beginning of next week. He claps Master Leo on the shoulder, and heads on his way. 

He makes it almost all the way home before Aurora catches up with him. She stands on a rail, seemingly unseen, as he makes his way up to his unassuming apartment. 

Her heart seizes. He is of royal birth, he should be living somewhere so...drab. So...empty. And he shouldn't be alone. He should never have to be alone. 

She feels herself start to reach for him. Wants nothing more than to feel him with her again. 

But then her feet stall, her breath stops. Her heart skips a beat in her chest. 

And the confident, radiant Princess Aurora, sits powerless outside the room where her Prince's waits, unknowing. 

****

And so, our heroine has encountered another obstacle. Stalled in her quest she is, but unbeknownst to her, this problem could well be the undoing of her entire world.


	3. Chapter 3

After being frozen for several, horrifying minutes, Aurora stands again. 

Whatever this is, she still has much time tonight. 

And so she glides through the city streets, alone. 

This tiny town of Storybrooke. Such a perfect small town. Picturesque, in a way that Aurora could have never imagined from her old home. 

She passes Main Street, with its businesses, into streets of houses. Each one with a lawn, and endearing little details of faires and other creatures casted into stone. Streets lights shine like fireflies into the beautiful night. 

She doesn't see any other people. They must all be sleeping, sleeping away their false lives. 

Before Aurora knows it, she's reached the edge of town where street turns to field. 

In the distance, she can see a figure, standing near a horse. 

When she gets closer, she recognizes her and her heart swells and tries to jump out her throat. Mulan, oh god, she hasn't been able to speak to anyone who knows her in so long...

Before Aurora can stop herself from running to her, she hears. Mulan's not whispering, but she's talking quietly, to a...

A lizard? Yes, there's a lizard sitting on her horse's back. 

"I don't know what to do. I don't know what they would want". 

"Girl, you worry too much, you know if any of your ancestors were displeased, they would make themselves heard". 

OK, a talking lizard is way out of both Rose and Aurora's experiences. But she can adapt. 

Mulan hair is knotted neatly at the nape of her neck, and her eyes are squeezed shut. Aurora is taken aback when she realizes she's crying. she's never seen Mulan cry. 

Stomach in a twist, Aurora steps forward. 

Mulan's eyes, open, but it's like she doesn't even see her. 

"Mulan, dance with me". Aurora's voice feels thick, like it's not hers. 

She blindly takes her hands. 

Mulan is not as graceful as Belle, but more precise. They're moving at a quicker pace too, nearly matching the pounding in Aurora's chest. 

"What are you so frightened of?"

"That I've dishonored them".

"Now how would have have done that?" 

"I left my country, my home."

"Not them?"

Mulan's eyes are squeezed shut again, tears falling openly. 

"Dead, all them. Dead the winter the fires and blights came to our land. So many died of the sickness, our ancestral shrines and memorials burned to the ground..."

"But you survived. Don't you think they would be proud of you for that?"

"I should never have left home. If I hadn't joined the army in the first place, there must have been something I could have done..."

Aurora moves her hands from where they had been resting on Mulan's shoulders, to cup her face. 

"You joined the army to save your father's life. There's nothing more honorable than that. Whatever dreams your parents had for you, I can't imagine in any world how they could have been ashamed of you". 

Mulan's shoulders lose all their tension, and her whole body slumps, held upright seemingly only by Aurora's grip. 

"Mulan, since I have known you, you have been nothing but a loyal soldier and a fierce friend. I cannot think of any way that your family could be prouder of you, of any greater honor you could bring to them"

When the light engulfs the two of them, they had been still for several moments. When it dissipates, Aurora surges forward and embraces Mulan. 

"My friend, it has been too long, far too long", she says, tears falling from her eyes. 

When the sun has started to rise again, the two have taken seats in a far corner of Granny's Diner, with the book on the table between them, and barely touched breakfasts. 

"So, this place, wherever we are...it's all some kind of curse?"

Aurora- or, she supposes, she's Rose right now, retransformed outside back into her everyday self, replies, 

"A big one. The last chapter says here that the writer stole everyone here's stories conclusion- stole out happy endings. Then she wrote this place and trapped us here. Stole a piece of everyone's hearts. Stole them to keep us like this forever". 

"She sounds like a terrible writer". 

"It says here, that this spell, this book- writing it kept her immortal. I guess she just didn't care about the ramifications". 

"How are you supposed to break it? I mean- she clearly left a way for you to remember- why would she do that at all?"

Aurora bites her lip. She'd read through to the end of the book. She'd read it, and understood it, but part of her still hadn't internalized the meaning of the last lines. 

She flips to the final page, a picture of the town, in miniature, detailed in watercolor, framed by the verse:

"So the story told in the curse'd town  
Each tale unbound by feelings true  
Awakened deep by the princess herself  
Now she dances as she once only dreamed  
She will save their hearts, one by one  
But only her own story's end will save them all  
For a dance may a memory return  
Only True Love's Kiss may break a curse  
And lest she know, her Prince's kiss  
will seal her own life's death curse".

Mulan stares at her. 

"So to save us all- you're going to have to die?"

"The verse is a little thicker than I'm used to...but that seems to be the jist. I bring back everyone's memories, then I kiss Philip and break the curse, but I die in exchange."

"You can't seriously be..."

Aurora smiles ruefully. 

"You know plenty of duty Mulan. How could I go on knowing all these people, people I love, were trapped in this playground of a life they were cursed into?"

Mulan's face is deadly serious. "So you definitely believe this story- what this book says this writer- whoever she is- did to us- that it's true?"

Aurora nods slowly, picking at the burnt edge of her toast. 

"Before I went to you last night, when I was still transformed, I passed Philip's apartment, and saw him come home. I tried to reach out to him, but I couldn't. It was like there was wall, or some kind of force stopping me from him seeing me, or me speaking to him. If the spell has to break the way that this book says, it makes sense-"

"It really doesn't". 

Aurora laughs. "Magic does have a bizarre sense of logic, but following that it makes sense that I wouldn't be able to return Philip's memories until I got to everyone else". 

She pushes away her plate, before standing up. 

"Speaking, of, I guess we better...try to go on like normal I guess? I can only transform at night, but I can keep an eye out for people throughout the day."

She grabs her bag, pauses, then slides back into the other booth and hugs Mulan to her chest fiercely.

"Thank you, so much. When this started I thought I was going crazy."

"Don't go getting all obsessed about your own death. There's got to be a way out of this. I'm going to do some research later, try to find out more about the book. I was supposed to go see Eddie at one of the costume fitting rehearsals this weekend, I'll find you again then if not any sooner."

They stay pressed together tightly for a few moments before Aurora reluctantly lets go and turns to leave.

**

It takes hours into the evening before Aurora calms herself and feels Rose start to ease back in and take control again. She'll never make it through the motions like this if it keeps up. But she has to- she'll never be able to help the others if she can't help herself. 

When she goes to the ballet school for rehearsal that night, she has finally found the balance again, and it's good- because she must be at her peak her. Rose has a major role after all, and it wouldn't be like either of them to falter on that. 

Tonight's rehearsal is only Rose and the other fairies, and the dancers portraying Aurora and Carbosse. Most of the younger dancers look excited, and must be chastised to behave numerous times. 

It should probably make her feel strange, being part of a dance supposedly based on her own story. But it's so far from her own experience that it doesn't bother her at all. Aurora and Rose have come to an understanding, and when it comes to this kind of dance, Rose is the one who needs to be at the forefront. Aurora lets herself fall back and let it happen. 

Aurora goes through the rehearsal, feeling energized. Master Leo nods his approval a few times in her direction, so she guesses it shows.

(She also notices him looking a bit more...feline than usual). 

When rehearsal is done and she is finished changing back into her street clothing, Aurora overhears something that perks up the part of her mind that she had let go dormant in her dance. 

It's Ana- the girl playing Aurora in the show. She's a tall girl- very blonde and quite pretty. She had been courteous during rehearsals if not exactly friendly. And she certainly was a strong enough dancer. 

"Mother, I said rehearsal was going to run over, I'll be home in an hour or so. No! I told you, I'm not seeing him again. I told you I wouldn't didn't I? Goodbye, I'll see you later". 

When she leaves, Aurora follows her. 

It's late enough that the moon has come out. Ana walks onto the street, heading toward Main Street, and Aurora follows. 

She ends up outside the bakery, which is closed due to the late hour. Ana just stands there, staring at the shop window, where a couple figures still move inside, cleaning up shop for the night. 

Aurora takes a deep breath. She feels the electricity, the pull of the moonlight again. She lets out the breath, looks up at the moon, and gives a twirl.

Here she went again.


	4. Chapter 4

When Ana has been waiting for a quarter of an hour, a man emerges from the front door of the bakery. He has short hair, and is still dusted with flour from his day's work. 

Aurora watches them perched on the low roof from a nearby shop. Getting up there was easy, easier than it should have been. 

"Did you decide if you're coming tonight" the man asks. 

"I told you Will," Ana replies, not meeting his eye. "Lots of people from town will be there, someone will tell..."

"You're a grown woman Ana, you shouldn't have to worry about your mother's approval anymore, you can do what you want."

He reaches to try to take her hand, but she tucks it into her coat. 

Will stiffens. 

"Well I'm going to go with or without you. See you, if you dare". 

When he's gone, Aurora finally approaches her. When she reaches out her hands to her, Ana takes them. Her dancing is as on point here as it is in the studio, technically perfect, and what she lacks in passion she makes up in grace. 

"You want to go with him...so why don't you?"

"Because I know my mother wouldn't approve. She always taught us that love was a means to improve yourself and your life...she wouldn't think much of me falling in love with a baker."

"But it's your life, shouldn't you worry most about what you want for it, rather than what she does". 

Ana's eyes are squeezed shut. It sounds like she's trying to convince herself of what she says next. 

"She's always done so much for us, made sure we had the best opportunities, that we knew to strive for what we deserved..."

"Did she love you? If she did, shouldn't your happiness be the best reward for raising you?"

Ana says nothing at this point. Aurora wonders for a minute, then slowly gets the subtext. 

"And if..."

She words are interrupted by a figure appearing in her peripheral vision. Will, he's come back to the front of the street. He doesn't seem perturbed, and cuts into the two's dance seamlessly. 

"You know it's never been about you Anastasia" he says, taking her hands in his. 

"When I told her we were leaving together, she didn't even care" Ana's crying now. 

"You always though that if you could succeed in the way she wanted, that she would finally love you. It was never going to be enough for her, and you know it". 

Ana finally opens her eyes, and pulls Will close. 

"He's right you know," Aurora says "You should start living your life on your own terms. If you don't do that, you will never be truly happy". 

The light envelops both Will and Anastasia this time, and when it clears, Aurora can see the change in demeanor on Ana's face immediately. 

"You came back" she says. 

"Wouldn't have been the same without you". 

Ana laughs, and there's a confidence to it she'd lacked earlier. 

"We were King and Queen of Wonderland, and somehow we still ended up back under my mother's thumb. Revenge, I suppose you could call it". 

The couple, looking for all the world like an apprentice baker and a carefree young woman, continue on their way down the road, paying Aurora no more mind.

She follows them for a bit. She just wants to find out where they're going. 

One of the parks in the town center is basically a large field with a gazebo in the center. Someone has strung the gazebo with lights, and someone else has brought music, and maybe twenty or thirty of the young people of the town have come to dance. 

Aurora even recognizes Master Leo, sitting on the steps the gazebo alone, drinking from a cup, watching his roommate. 

There's something in his eyes Aurora notices. 

But that will be for another night. 

The next day, while she's at class, acting like Rose again, Mulan goes to the library with the fairy tale book. 

The whole story is written in verse, thick with metaphors and figurative language, so she considers that the best course of action would be to look for clues in the other forms of the story told in this world. 

Mulan's land did not have a story like this, so everything she reads is new to her. 

The first version she finds has a whole half of a story that sounds nothing like anything that has happened in her friend's lives. The heroine goes by many different names, and is rarely more than a girl in age. She very rarely resembles the girl Mulan knows. 

To Mulan's discomfort, the stories also often contain far too much rape. 

And something that she finds strange- in almost none of the stories does the villain have a name. She is often a cipher, setting the curse and then leaving. 

The librarian comes by and gives her a book from another section. Mulan wonders for a minute, but notices the gleam in the woman's eye that tells her that Aurora must have already worked her magic on her and restored her memories. 

When she gets up to leave, a teenage boy outside the library doors whispers to her, so softly she almost doesn't hear. 

"Ask her about the ballet". 

But before Mulan can turn and confront him, he is gone.

They hadn't planned to meet again that night, but both Mulan and Aurora found themselves at the diner again, for coffee and pie. It's nearly deserted this time of night, only the old innkeeper behind the counter bringing out orders. 

"Thank you for coming," Aurora says, after a sip of her coffee, "I know it's late". 

"It's not that late," she replies, "moonlight comes early this time of year". 

Aurora laughs and says. "I just...I don't think I can just be Rose again. Every time I try, I get so lonely...she was so lonely, and I never realized". 

Mulan understands. "I haven't thought of myself as Leah all day, even when I was at the stables closing everything up".

They are quiet a while longer before Aurora asks. 

"Did you find anything out at the library?"

Mulan nods. 

"A lot of stuff, but not a lot that I know is important."

She waits a minute, then probes. 

"There's a lot of different Sleeping Beauty stories, and Philip was only ever able to tell me his side of the story...so I don't really know which one I should pay attention to."

Aurora takes a bite of her pie. 

"Keep in mind, most of this I only know most of this from what I was told. You know that my mother was often also called a Sleeping Beauty?"

Mulan nods. "Philip told me that the dark fairy who cursed you also cursed your mother". 

"My mother was cursed at her christening. No one knew who the fairy was, or why she was there. She foretold that my mother would prick herself on a spindle at the age of fifteen and die. One of the other fairies in attendance was able to mediate the curse, rather than death, a hundred years slumber." 

"Oh wow, a hundred years?"

Aurora nods. 

"And it happened, Even though my grandfather ordered all the spindles and spinning wheels in the land burned, on her fifteenth birthday, when my mother was alone at home..."

She trails off before restarting. 

"When she was asleep, they moved her to a little cottage out in the woods. When the hundred years were up, there came stories of a valiant prince who had ridden to the cottage and woken her...usually they just said that the spell had expired, but a few whispered stories that were more..."

"Awful" Mulan says grimly. 

"I never pressed them for details...but I know I was born quite soon after the spell was broken and they moved to my father's kingdom". 

She takes a minute, eating some more of her pie. 

"And then, when I was christened, she came again. The same curse, but this time the other fairy- Merryweather- could not do anything about the time. I would have slept on forever were it not for Philip."

"How did you two even meet?"

She can't believe she asked that, it has no bearing on the situation. But Mulan had always wondered, Philip had gone on about the princess, but somehwo details had been eluded. 

"I met him in the forest. I had no idea who he was, or I was for that matter. To keep me safe, my father and mother had sent me to live with the fairies- Flora and Fauna and Merryweather in the forest. I didn't even know I was a princess at all." 

"He fell in love with you, even believing you were just a peasant girl?"

Aurora falters a bit before speaking. This next part almost feels like a betrayal. 

"Love at first sight might be a bit overstating. But he was so handsome and so brave, and I had never met other people my age before. When he came, with you and woke me up, and it turned out that we had been betrothed as children...it all seemed so perfect."

Mulan had been there, it had seemed perfect, like a perfect story. 

"He told us all that were being led to defeat fairy of terrible power..."

Aurora grits her teeth. 

"It's driving me mad, I feel like I should know her name, like I've known it for all my life"

Mulan thinks. It DOES feel like the fairy's name must be important. 

"The fairy is very rarely mentioned in the stories, what about in the ballet?"

Aurora pulls out her cast list from her bag. 

"The ballet calls her Carabosse, but that's not right...they call Merryweather the Lilac Fairy. That's who I am by the way". 

There's a bit of Rose, happier Rose, in her voice then. 

"They're pretty much the two biggest roles in the story. You're right, the fairy doesn't really have much of a role in the original story...nor do I for that matter". She smiles ruefully. 

Mulan nods. She had noticed that. 

She touches the large book in her own bag beside her on the booth. 

"I've read this thing two or three times, and I keep thinking that I'm missing something. I'll trying it again tomorrow. So we think the dark fairy's name must be important...and probably her motive too". 

"The ballet says that it was because she wasn't invited to the princess's christening". 

"That seems a pretty petty motive for a two generation vendetta, and cursing an entire town like this."

Aurora nods. "It feels that way in the ballet too, that's why the dancer who plays Carabosse is dressed and danced so alien, so that her being so different from a person is more understandable". 

"How are we going to figure out why she did all of this?"

Aurora muses, uncertain. 

"I suppose I could go try to talk to Rose's- my parents. I don't have any idea how to get them their memories back yet, but it's the only thing I can think of". 

"Talk to Mr. Gold". 

Both women in the booth jump at the sound of the adolescent girl who suddenly appeared next to them. 

"Good God Emma, how do you keep sneaking up like that?" Aurora says, frustrated. 

"Why is this place still open this late when only you two are here?" Emma replies. 

Before either woman can react, the girl continues. 

"Seriously. Talk to Mr. Gold. He owns the pawn shop the next street over, knows everything about everyone here. But he's a real sad old man, making him remember might be a lot of work." 

And before Aurora can open her mouth again, the girl is gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Emma’s word is accurate. Finding Mr. Gold’s shop is the next night is easy, both as Rose, and as Aurora. But restoring his memory is the most difficult task Aurora has faced so far. 

He’s not a bad dancer, not at all. Though weathered by age, old Rumpelstiltskin still had the grace of gentility gained through his years. 

But he keeps turning her away. They dance a few steps, then he pulls back. 

She had found him behind the counter of his shop, doing paperwork and neatening up. 

She notices that the entire store is organized, save a couple of items by the counter- a tea set, an old shawl, a drawing of a child. 

“You treasure these” she notes. “Are they mementos of something, or did they belong to someone you’ve lost?”

“Lost would imply they would have ever stayed”, he pulls away from her, turning his back to the corner of the shop. 

“Did they really leave” Aurora asks, cocking her head. “Or did you drive them off. Did you feel you didn’t deserve them somehow?”

“That’s a pretty personal assumption for someone who doesn’t know me at all”. 

“You’re literally pushing me away right now”. 

He doesn’t respond to that. She returns, giving him both of her hands. 

“Have you lived your life always avoiding things which might cause you pain?”

He quietly responds, “I didn’t used to. You get knocked down too many times, you stop getting up.”

“But if you spend all your time trying to avoid things that might hurt, you’ll miss things that are good. Most people, relationships, they bring both joy and pain. “

Rumpelstiltskin has returned to his spot by the counter. He picks up the drawing. 

“Baelfire drew this, so I could take it with me. It’s all I have left of him now”. 

“But don’t you have happy memories of him too?”

He’s silent again.

“You can’t live your life in avoidance of pain. And pushing people away because of it isn’t fair to them. In your attempts to avoid pain you only cause it for them. “

He takes a deep breath. 

“And if no one wants to be around me?”

“Then you move on, and treasure the happy memories.”

The light that envelops the man is quieter than many of the others, but just as intense. When he emerges, his face is still downcast. 

“Welcome back?” Aurora asks. 

“So her plan worked” is all he says. 

“Do you know something Rumpelstiltskin?” Aurora responds, smiling, just a bit pointedly. 

“The fairy approached me. She had been assembling a spell that would allow her to remain immortal by trapping people in the boundaries of a book she wrote. Her body could die, but with the story, she would live on”. 

Aurora nods, this being the information reading the storybook Emma had given her had divulged. 

“But that wasn’t enough for her.” He continued, “She wanted to add something, that would give her complete power over others. They would all forget her identity, so they could not fight the curse even if they tried, because they would not know her for what she was”. 

“But we do know,” Aurora interjects, “kind of? She left us the book itself, with the stories in it, I read it all. That’s how I learned everyone else’s stories.”

“And yet there is something key you seem to be missing?” He adds, the last note in his voice denoting a question that he already seems to know the answer. 

Aurora nods. 

“Despite having regained my knowledge of my life, I cannot recall the name of the fairy responsible for so many of my family’s hardships. I don’t know why she did it either, though I feel like I knew once.”

“She knew, and almost certainly intended this. Names are powerful in magic casting and especially to magical beings. To deny you knowledge of their name is to deny you any kind of power over them. As for her motive, if my interactions with her were any evidence, I feel she at this point only desired immortality. She may have seen the breaking of your family’s curses a slight to her power.”

“How would you regain knowledge the curse had stolen away like that?” she asks. 

“I’m afraid the only one who could have been spared is someone not touched by the curse. “

Aurora sighs quietly, remembering the end of the poem and what lies ahead of her. 

“Though from your success tonight, I’d say your progress at ending this curse have had some measure of success”. 

Aurora smiles with pride, then tells Rumplestiltskin, 

“The next time the librarian comes by to complete her paperwork, you might want to ask her to stay for a cup of tea”. 

Aurora then thanks him, and leaves the shop only a little dejected.

She calls Mulan after, telling her the good and bad news. 

And is only a little surprised when the other woman shows up a few minutes later with tea and dessert. 

They sit on Rose’s futon and pour over the book again and again after the tea cups are empty and cake remnants crumbs. 

“Did he really imply that there might be someone here who wasn’t affected by the curse?” Mulan asks. 

“The only thing I can even come up with is if there’s someone who’s not in one of these stories.” Aurora answers, running her fingers over the crease where the pages are stitched to the spine. “I thought about Emma first, but”

She touches the page, with the illustration of Snow White holding the tiny blanket wrapped baby. Not exactly how either of them knew the child, but still, “Here she is. There’s not much about Rumpelstiltskin in here either, most of his deal I knew by reputation in the old world. But he wasn’t any special help when I woke him up either”. 

“So you’re just going to keep doing this? Keep waking people up one by one and ignoring Philip? And that doesn’t even touch how we’re ever going to go back to our home…”

Aurora laughs. 

“God, that never even occurred to me,” she admits. She gestures around her. 

“This was my life here. Lonely and bloodless, just barely moving through my days one at a time. I was a princess, and I lived in a single room with no pictures, no decorations, no signs of friends or family...God, she was probably feeding off of it, the misery she knew it would have caused me…”

The name is dancing on the tip of her tongue, but still it will not come. 

“You’re beyond that now Aurora, “ Mulan says firmly, “You’re awake. You’re helping this whole town wake up too. You’re making us whole again. How much time have you even spent in this apartment since you woke me too?”

Aurora tilts her face downward. It’s true, even in her life as Rose, she’s spent so much time at the ballet school, rehearsing, with Mulan and reading the book trying to plan her next move. Her old life seems to have practically melted away. 

She then looks at Mulan’s face, determined, certain, so absolutely certain in what she’s just said. Aurora is suddenly overcome by such a rush of tenderness she can’t see straight. She leans across the gap between them and embraces her, pressing her cheek into her neck. 

“Thank you, Mulan, so much. I don’t think I could have made it through all of this if it weren’t for you.”

They stay like that for some time, and Aurora realizes she almost can’t bear the thought of leaving this behind. 

The days continue to pass, getting shorter and colder. Group rehearsals turn to collective rehearsals that grow in length. Costumes are fitted, the orchestra prepares, the sets are built and painted and prepared for all possible needs. 

And one by one, the rest of the town begins to wake up. 

The school principal lets go of a grudge against her stepdaughter that was harming far more than her. 

The town psychiatrist comes to reconcile with the friend he felt great guilt for harming. 

Ruby from the diner finally brings the farm girl she’d been seeing home to meet Granny. 

By the time Aurora waits with Mulan when everyone files into the auditorium for the final dress rehearsal, there’s hardly anyone left who’s still in their trapped life. 

“It’s strange,” Mulan comments, “Everyone’s waking, but the town is still going on as normal.”

“It might be these lives have become more a part of us than we’d like to admit” Aurora responds. Some days on stage, she still feels the press of Rose’s depression gnawing at her soul. But she knows how to deal with it now. 

When the time to go backstage comes, she bids Mulan farewell and goes. 

She passes Phillip on the way to the dressing rooms, and he gives her a nod of recognition. There’s suddenly a deep emptiness present in her, and she finds herself staring out into the area where Mulan sits in the empty auditorium.


End file.
